Apparatus for laying and taking up railways.



PATENTED NOV. 28,A 1905.

` G.I'.RITGHIE. APPARATUS FOR LAYING AND TAKING UP RAILWAYS APPLICATIONFILED JULY 13. 1905.

ANDREW. l. Gunn ou. vmwufwmuwzws. msnmoro NITED STATES PATRNT OFFICE.

GEORGE IvEs RI'rcHIE, oF cRossRTT, ARKANSAS. APPARATUS FOR LAYING ANDTAKING UIiFAlLWAYS..y

lSpc-:cifcation of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application ned July 13.1905. senti No. 269,500.

To a/Z whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE IvES RrrcHIE, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Crossett, in the county of Ashley and State ofArkansas, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for LayingandpTaking Up Railways, of which the followingis a full,

. clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to an apparatus fo laying down and taking uprailways which is adapted particularly for use in connection withtemporary roads, such as those which are constructed in lumberdistricts. In this industryv rail or tram ways are frequently laidthrough the forests, and when the supply of timber along the road isexhausted the road is taken up and relaid, these operations frequentlyrecurring and involving considerable expense. l

The object of my invention is to provide a practical means for doingthis work in less time and with less expenditure than heretofore, `andin attaining this end I provide a number of flat-cars over which acarriage is adapted to run from one to the other car. This carriage ispreferably, though not necessarily, in the form of a sled, and it isdesigned to carry sections of the track, the sections consisting-of twoparallel rails permanently connected by sleepers or ties. The

carriage or carriages are moved over the' train in one direction by alocomotive which may also be employed for propelling the train and inthe other direction by the drum of the hoisting-engine, which isemployedin connection with a boom derrick or'loader for picking up orlaying down the track-sections. In this manner a train of flat-cars,each bearing a carriage loaded with track-sections, the trainhaving atits front end a loader or derrick and at its rear end a locomotivepushing the train, may be run to the end of the laid track, and thetrack-sections on the tram may be unloaded and joined to the laid track,the

train advancing continually yas the track isenabled with great facilityeither to take up or lay down a railway, dispensing with all hand-laborexcepting that necessary in bolting up or unbolting the fish-plates toconnect or disconnect track-sections.

The invention resides in certain features which will be fully set forthhereinafter, and particularljT pointed out in the claims.

Reference is had to the accompanying draw-` ings, Which illustrate as anexample the preferred embodiment of my invention, in which drawings likecharacters of reference indicate like parts in the several views, inwhich- Figure 1 is a side view showing a train of two flat-cars with thelocomotive at one end and the loader or derrick at the other'end andillustrating the loader or derrick at work. Fig. y2 is a side view ofthe preferredY form of the carriage. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same. Fig.4 is a detail View of a tongs which I prefer to employ for lifting thetrack-sections.

Fig. 5 is a side view of the same, and Fig. 6.

is a detail viewshowing a part of the carriage.

Preferably the carriage is in the form of a` sled which is composed oftwo sections of railway-rails a, joined by tie-rods a' and having theirends a2 turned up, so that the sled may be easily drawn in eitherdirection. Fastened to the rails a by brackets (see Fig. 6) are ringsand to these rings b bridled chains c are connected. The chains c arejoined one to each end of the sled and are adapted to couple orotherwise connect with them, so that the sled may be drawn in eitherdirection.

In Fig. 1,y d indicates the two fiat-cars constituting the train thereillustrated. -e indicates the locomotive, and f the loader or der.-rick. The loader or derrick may be of any desired type excepting that itshould be capable of picking up a section of track on the ground andswinging it around to an adjacent flat-car or ofy taking the twosections from the car and swinging them around to the ground. Preferablythe fiat-cars are pro- Ioo sired, dutchmen or short rail-sections may beset in between the contiguous ends of the rails g to insure thecontinuity of the road when completed. Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate thetongs which are intended particularly for use in connection withhandling these railwaysections. These tongs are composed of two arms t,with half-circular grippers It', adapted to engage the balls of therails, the tongs being pivoted to a shackle h2, which in turn is joinedto the derrick fall-rope f.

In practicing my invention, assuming that it is desired to lay a newtrack, atrain should be made up composed of the derrick or loader f, anumber of flat-cars, and a locomotive, the derrick being at the frontend of the train and the locomotive at the rear end. Each fiat-car isloaded with a carriage on which is superimposed a number of flat-cars,as illustrated in Fig. l. rIhe train should then be advanced to the endof the track, and the tracksections on the car nearest the derrickshould be successively unloaded onto the ground, the track hands joiningthe sections together by fish-plates as fast as they are unloaded. Vhenall of the track-sections have been removed from one of the carriages,this carriage should be lifted aside by the derrick and a cable attachedto the bridle-chain c of the nearest adjacent carriage and led to thedrum on the .derrick or loader f. Upon operating this drum the carriagewill be drawn adjacent to the derrick, so that this second carriage maybe unloaded as before. After this has been done the third carriage isdrawn up to the derrick, and so on until the entire train is unloaded.The derrick may then pick up the empty carriages, return to the point ofsupply, where the train may be again loaded with tracksections, afterwhich the above described operation may be repeated. In picking up atrack the fish-plates should be unbolted andthe derrick should land thecarriage directly adjacent to it, as Fig. l shows. After this carriageis loaded a cable should be connected to the bridle-chain thereof andthe locomotive uncoupled from the train and connected with the cable.Upon going ahead with the locomotive the loaded carriage may be drawnonto the flat-car directly adjacent to the locomotive. After this hasbeen repeated the derrick should load onto the adja- `when unloaded mustbe themselves unloaded from the-flat-cars and deposited at the side 0fthe road, and then in picking up the track the derrick may collect thepreviously-unloaded carriages from alongside of the track and load themonto the train as fast as they are needed to receive the track-sections.

Having thus described the preferred form of my invention, what I claimas new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a train of flat-cars, a locomotive at one endthereof, a loader at the other end thereof, and a carriage movable alongthe train of fiat-cars.

2. The combination of a train of flat-cars, a loader at one end thereof,a locomotive at thc other end, a carriage movable along the fiatcars,and means for connecting the carriage with either the loader orlocomotive, whereby to move the carriage in one or the other directionover the train of fiat-cars.

8. The combination of a train of cars, a carriage movable along thesame, a loader at one end of the train, and a locomotive at the otherend of the train.

4. The combination of a train of ears, a carriage movable along thesame, a locomotive at one end of the train, a loader at the other end,and means for connecting the carriage with either the locomotive or theloader, for the purpose specified.

5. The combination of a train of cars, a carriage movable over the same,a loader at one end of thetrain of oars, means for connecting thecarriage with said loader to move the carriage toward the loader, andmeans at the other end of thetrain of cars adapted to move the carriagein the other direction.

6. The combination of a train of cars, a carriage movable over the samefrom one to the other car, and a means at each end of the train fordrawing the carriage toward one or the other end.

7. The combination of a train of cars, a carriage movable over the samefrom one car to the other, a loader at one end of the train, and meansfor moving the carriage over the train toward and from the loader.

8. The combination of a train of cars, a carriage movable over the same,a loader at one end of the train, said loader being capable of loadingtrack-sections onto or unloading tracksections from the carriage, andalso being eapable of drawing the carriage toward the loader, and ameans at the other end of the train for drawing the carriage away fromthe loader.

9. rIhe combination of a train of cars, a carriage movable over thesame, a loader at one end of the train, said loader being capable ofloading track sections onto or unloading` track-sections from thecarriage, and also being capable of drawing the carriage toward theloader, and a means at the other end of the train for drawing thecarriage away from the loader, said means comprising a locomotive alsocapable of hauling the train.

10. The combination of a train of ears, a

IOO

Carriage movalole over the same, means for moving the carriage back andforth along the `train, said carriage being formed of sledrails, andmeans for rigidly connecting the rails together.

l1. The combination of a train of cars, a

sled .movable along the train from one part to the other, a loader atone end of the train,

and means for moving the sled over the train in either direction.

12. The oomloination'ofa train of cars, guidi ing means extendinglongitudinally thereon,

a carriage movable over the train from one car to the other and held bysaid guiding means, a loader at one end of the train, and 15 means formoving the carriage onthe train.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two suhvsoriloingg; Witnesses.

4 GEORGE IVES RITCHIE.

Witnesses:

C. A. PEARsoN, R. R. CARMIGAL.

